The Value of Being Corrected

The issue of how frequently to correct students is often a hard call for teachers. For students, both a lack of corrections and too many corrections can be frustrating. Here are some reasons why you should correct language learners when you can, and why you should welcome corrections when you are learning a language.

Being Corrected Helps You Learn

The most obvious reason to correct learners is that it will help them learn and avoid making the same mistake in the future. Sometimes the learner doesn’t realize what he or she is saying is incorrect, other times he or she might know that something is not right but not know how to say it correctly. Whatever case, corrections can help get it right.

We might be stuck or unsure and want you to jump in and help

Sometimes when you are learning a language it is helpful for people you speak with to be attuned to when you might need a little help and to jump in and finish your sentences.

To Build Confidence

Corrections, if used appropriately, are great for building confidence. When I am learning a language, I am frequently unsure of pronunciation, sentence structure and any number of other things. Speaking with someone who corrects me, especially if it is not incessant, will build my confidence in the language by making me for confident that there are some parts of my speech that are in fact correct.

If, on the other hand, the other person doesn’t correct me at all, I just end up thinking they are lazy or not paying attention.

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